DANBURY — With half of the Watertown-Pomperaug hockey team comprised of seniors, winning at least a South-West Conference champion- ship, if not a state title, took on extra meaning for the Indians this season.

Saturday, with senior goalie Trevor St. Onge leading the way with 22 saves to earn the SWC Tournament Most Valuable Player award, the Indians avenged their only league loss in spectacular style.

Watertown-Pomperaug never trailed in beating Brookfield-Bethel-Danbury, 5-1, to win its second conference champion-ship in three years.

"This one is definitely more exciting because I have been playing with these guys a long time. They are like my brothers, and this is the best feeling in the world right now," said senior captain Kevin Murphy, who had two assists and was named to the all-tournament team along with senior Kyle Block and junior Jon Manzer. "We have worked well together our whole lives."

Teamwork was clearly the difference in Saturday's game as the Indians received significant contributions from quite a few players.

Senior captain Garret Young scored two goals with one assist, and Manzer scored one

See INDIANS, Page 6C

goal with two assists. Block added one goal and one assist, and senior defenseman Dave Hughes chipped in with only his second career goal.

"It's everyone's heart on this team and the fact that everyone is willing and able to contribute," St. Onge said. "We have some star players, but mostly it is because everyone is willing to grind and get in behind the net and the corners, crash hard to the net, and defensively they are all willing to lay their bodies out for the shots. When everyone's contributions come together, that is what makes us a good team."

Watertown-Pomperaug improved to 16-5-1 thanks to plenty of contributions from St. Onge. He kept the Indians in the game while the Ice Cats carried the play early.

"He has been like that all year for us," Indians coach Vic Vicenzi said. "We have the utmost confidence in him. He is a gamer. He loves the pressure. I think he actually hates when we don't let teams take shots on him. He did a great job, as always. He is always in position, and he is very fundamental. He also has good skills, so it is a great combination."

The Indians gave St. Onge a lead to work with 12:07 into the game with a power-play goal from Manzer off assists from Murphy and Young. They struck again on the power play 5:42 into the second period on Hughes' goal off an assist from Block.

"We have 11 seniors, and we are all playing for each other," Block said. "This is the biggest season of our lives, and we are all doing it for each other."

The Ice Cats made it a 2-1 game with 2:22 left in the second period on a goal by John Cueva. Then the Indians really had to pull together.

Just like they did at the end of the first period, the Ice Cats drew a penalty that carried over into the next period. It put some pressure on Watertown-Pomperaug to start each of the last two periods down a man with only a one-goal lead against a very good power play.

"I was waiting for when our luck was going to run out and they were going to pop one in on us," Vicenzi said. "But to our guys' credit, we kept the puck off certain guys' sticks and tried to keep the shots to the outside, being a little bit more aggressive and not letting teams just own the power play."

St. Onge said he felt comfortable because the defense, led by senior captains Bobby Narciso and Gabe Dispoto, was keeping shots wide or going to the ice to block them. And despite the fact that he missed the month before the SWC Tournament with a high ankle sprain, St. Onge feels great now.

"I was really excited for this game obviously, not only because it was the championship game, but because it was only the second game I have played in a month," St. Onge said. "I was focused and ready to play."

It took a little while for the Indians' offense to get into a rhythm, but once they started putting the puck on net rather than always trying to make one more unselfish pass, the goals started coming.

With 3:57 to play in the game, Young scored the first of three goals in a span of 2:15. He scored again with 1:42 to play with Block scoring in between.

"This was one of the goals we set out for at the beginning of the year," said Vicenzi, "and it is just amazing to be able to follow through and actually do it against a good team. It wasn't given to us We had to go out there and earn it."

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David A. Hughes wrote on Mar 5, 2013 4:04 PM:

" How can I obtain a copy of the Watertown-Pomperaug SWC Hockey Championship video?

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